Boing Boing » amputee http://boingboing.net Brain candy for Happy Mutants Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:15:23 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 Amputee with nerve-controlled bionic leg makes historic climb in Chicago skyscraper http://boingboing.net/2012/11/05/amputee-with-nerve-controlled.html http://boingboing.net/2012/11/05/amputee-with-nerve-controlled.html#comments Mon, 05 Nov 2012 14:28:06 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=192206 made medical history Sunday, climbing 103 stories of the Willis Tower with a state-of-the-art bionic leg controlled by electrical impulses from the muscles in his upper leg, including a rewired hamstring.]]>

31-year-old amputee Zac Vawter made medical history Sunday, climbing 103 stories of the Willis Tower with a state-of-the-art bionic leg controlled by electrical impulses from the muscles in his upper leg, including a rewired hamstring. He finished the climb in 45 minutes. More at the Chicago Trib, and CNN.
]]> http://boingboing.net/2012/11/05/amputee-with-nerve-controlled.html/feed 9 Oscar Pistorius first amputee to compete in World Championships http://boingboing.net/2011/08/08/oscar-pistorius-first-amputee-to-compete-in-world-championships.html http://boingboing.net/2011/08/08/oscar-pistorius-first-amputee-to-compete-in-world-championships.html#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:45:16 +0000 Rob Beschizza http://boingboing.net/?p=112468 the first amputee athlete to compete at the able-bodied World Championships, after being named in South Africa's squad." [BBC]]]> the first amputee athlete to compete at the able-bodied World Championships, after being named in South Africa's squad." [BBC]]]> http://boingboing.net/2011/08/08/oscar-pistorius-first-amputee-to-compete-in-world-championships.html/feed 4 Man chooses "elective amputation" for bionic hand, after motorcycle accident http://boingboing.net/2011/05/18/man-chooses-elective.html http://boingboing.net/2011/05/18/man-chooses-elective.html#comments Wed, 18 May 2011 12:19:32 +0000 Xeni Jardin

A 26-year-old man in Austria who lost the use of his right hand in a motorcycle accident ten years ago has decided to undergo "elective amputation," after which he will be fitted with a bionic hand controlled by nerve signals from his own arm. German prosthetics company Otto Bock makes the bionic hands; BBC News reports the prosthetics can "pinch and grasp in response to signals from the brain that are picked up by two sensors placed over the skin above nerves in the forearm."

This will be the second such surgery performed by Professor Oskar Aszmann, of Vienna.

A 24-year-old Austrian man named Patrick was the first patient in the world to choose to have his hand amputated, again by Professor Aszmann, and a bionic replacement fitted. He lost the use of his left hand after being electrocuted at work.
More here, and there's video of the bionic hand in use by Patrick, here.

(Thanks, Marguerite // update: also found on Make today, via Phil Torrone) ]]> http://boingboing.net/2011/05/18/man-chooses-elective.html/feed 34